Fixing the NI Economy

Cotta

Hi All,

As the debate on Scottish independence rages on with the economic element likely to be the most significant factor, it's interesting to note that many in England are now questioning if they want Scotland at all. More worryingly if they look across the Irish sea at NI really serious questions may begin to be asked. NI gets £10,876 per person per year and with a population of 1.8 million this is a staggering £19.5 billion per year.


http://www.cityam.com/blog/1385049825/northern-ireland-has-highest-government-spend-head-uk

This is unsustainable, looking into what is spent by our politicians the figures are even more worrying with spending in the region of £22 billion, £1.2 billion of which is simply interest paid on our national debt. Is anyone elected taking these figures seriously and attempting to redress them? If England decides all regions should get the same and them currently only get £8529 per head then our budget will be slashed by almost £4.5 billion - I can see this being looked at following the big vote in Scotland and I really couldn't blame the English if they do. Below is some of the outrageous spending carried out by our politicians, what are your thoughts?

Public and common services - £506m
EU transactions - £76m
International services - £229m
Debt interest - £1,406m
Defence - £1,108m
Public order and safety - £1,489m
Enterprise and economic development - £264m
Science and technology - £81m
Employment policies - £156m
Agriculture, fisheries and forestry - £503m
Transport - £610m
Environment protection - £270m
Housing and community amenities - £967m
Health - £3,669m
Recreation, culture and religion - £556m
Education - £2,794m
Social protection - £7,954m

Mistral001

Cotta wrote: »

Social protection - £7,954m

Social protection?

Stevie_Palimo

Cotta wrote: »

Hi All,

As the debate on Scottish independence rages on with the economic element likely to be the most significant factor, it's interesting to note that many in England are now questioning if they want Scotland at all. More worryingly if they look across the Irish sea at NI really serious questions may begin to be asked. NI gets £10,876 per person per year and with a population of 1.8 million this is a staggering £19.5 billion per year.


http://www.cityam.com/blog/1385049825/northern-ireland-has-highest-government-spend-head-uk

This is unsustainable, looking into what is spent by our politicians the figures are even more worrying with spending in the region of £22 billion, £1.2 billion of which is simply interest paid on our national debt. Is anyone elected taking these figures seriously and attempting to redress them? If England decides all regions should get the same and them currently only get £8529 per head then our budget will be slashed by almost £4.5 billion - I can see this being looked at following the big vote in Scotland and I really couldn't blame the English if they do. Below is some of the outrageous spending carried out by our politicians, what are your thoughts?

Public and common services - £506m
EU transactions - £76m
International services - £229m
Debt interest - £1,406m
Defence - £1,108m
Public order and safety - £1,489m
Enterprise and economic development - £264m
Science and technology - £81m
Employment policies - £156m
Agriculture, fisheries and forestry - £503m
Transport - £610m
Environment protection - £270m
Housing and community amenities - £967m
Health - £3,669m
Recreation, culture and religion - £556m
Education - £2,794m
Social protection - £7,954m

Whilst I agree that a few of the above are a waste of money you cannot say that education, housing, transport, health public Order and so on are as they are indeed a must.

Cotta

Stevie_Palimo wrote: »

Whilst I agree that a few of the above are a waste of money you cannot say that education, housing, transport, health public Order and so on are a must.

Absolutely agree, I wanted to include the full breakdown of (a) where the money is going and (b) are we getting value for money?

Stevie_Palimo

Cotta wrote: »

Absolutely agree, I wanted to include the full breakdown of (a) where the money is going and (b) are we getting value for money?

I would see this as a rule on thumb everywhere though as whilst the politicians are in charge of a public purse there will always be a vast waste of the money that is allocated to a certain area.


I do not think it matters who is controlling said purse they all take the pee regardless of where they are based within the UK.

saverbuyer

Mistral001 wrote: »

Social protection?

Benefits really

Cotta

1.4 billion for interest on our debt is insane, if the actual figure of debt going down or up and is any money from us going towards the debt itself?

saverbuyer

Cotta wrote: »

1.4 billion for interest on our debt is insane, if the actual figure of debt going down or up and is any money from us going towards the debt itself?

Up and none

warmhands.coldheart

Public and common services - £506m
I take it this is street cleansing, bin collections, etc..
Time to make it a bit more self funding by imposing "proper" fines on those who litter, don't pick up dog mess, light bloody big fires and leave it for the council to clean up along with all the other mess, and any other such misdemeanours..

Recreation, culture and religion - £556m
This could be dramatically reduced if we stopped having public services based on a "one for them and one for us" attitude. Lets "Share" !!!

EU transactions - £76m
What exactly is this? Anyone ??

International services - £229m
Again What exactly is this? Please enlighten me someone ??

Debt interest - £1,406m

Defence - £1,108m
Public order and safety - £1,489m
I'd have thought these go hand in hand.. quite a chunk of cash in anyone's books......
Lets see why would it be so high ??? Anyone ??? :cool:

Enterprise and economic development - £264m

Science and technology - £81m
What exactly is this? Anyone ??

Employment policies - £156m
What exactly is this? Anyone ??

Agriculture, fisheries and forestry - £503m

Transport - £610m

Environment protection - £270m

Housing and community amenities - £967m
Hmmm... Community amenities??? Does this not come under recreation or public and common service ??

Health - £3,669m
All prescriptions should be "Generic" brands.

NO prescriptions for silly day to day stuff like Paracetamol, standard Ibuprofen, Aspirin, etc. etc. etc. This stuff cost pence to us in the chemist but I'm sure all adds up to the Health Service.

In cases of Self Inflicted injuries such as drunken falls, fights, smoking related illnesses, alcohol related illnesses, etc, the patient should be made contribute to the health service be it through a nominal charge etc based on the type of care they required.


Education - £2,794m
As per Recreation, culture and religion, this could be dramatically reduced if we stopped having education based around a "one for them and one for us" attitude. Again lets "Share" !!!

Social protection - £7,954m
Sorry, don't have all day to start on this !!

warmhands.coldheart

Cotta wrote: »

1.4 billion for interest on our debt is insane, if the actual figure of debt going down or up and is any money from us going towards the debt itself?

Maybe they should go visit the local Credit Union and see if they can get a better deal !

Cotta

warmhands.coldheart wrote: »

Public and common services - £506m
I take it this is street cleansing, bin collections, etc..
Time to make it a bit more self funding by imposing "proper" fines on those who litter, don't pick up dog mess, light bloody big fires and leave it for the council to clean up along with all the other mess, and any other such misdemeanours..

Recreation, culture and religion - £556m

This could be dramatically reduced if we stopped having public services based on a "one for them and one for us" attitude. Lets "Share" !!!

EU transactions - £76m
What exactly is this? Anyone ??

No idea.

International services - £229m
Again What exactly is this? Please enlighten me someone ??

Again no idea.


Debt interest - £1,406m

Defence - £1,108m
Public order and safety - £1,489m
I'd have thought these go hand in hand.. quite a chunk of cash in anyone's books......
Lets see why would it be so high ??? Anyone ??? :cool:

Defence seems to link into Trident, question is should we keep it?

Enterprise and economic development - £264m

Science and technology - £81m
What exactly is this? Anyone ??

Not the worst thing to invest in as science would cover a wide field from research into Fracking to global warming etc.

Employment policies - £156m
What exactly is this? Anyone ??

Those back to work schemes the government has rolled out that have proven to be ineffective.

Agriculture, fisheries and forestry - £503m

Transport - £610m

Environment protection - £270m

Housing and community amenities - £967m
Hmmm... Community amenities??? Does this not come under recreation or public and common service ??

Health - £3,669m
All prescriptions should be "Generic" brands.

NO prescriptions for silly day to day stuff like Paracetamol, standard Ibuprofen, Aspirin, etc. etc. etc. This stuff cost pence to us in the chemist but I'm sure all adds up to the Health Service.

In cases of Self Inflicted injuries such as drunken falls, fights, smoking related illnesses, alcohol related illnesses, etc, the patient should be made contribute to the health service be it through a nominal charge etc based on the type of care they required.


Education - £2,794m
As per Recreation, culture and religion, this could be dramatically reduced if we stopped having education based around a "one for them and one for us" attitude. Again lets "Share" !!!


Social protection - £7,954m
Sorry, don't have all day to start on this !!

Can't answer all of your questions.